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Thanks also to my lovely betas: CouslandSpitFire and Eynla, who always manage to give me a hand with each chapter even though they have a busy schedule! You girls are FANTASTIC! :D
This is a more serious chapter! Bad things about to happen soon! Even so, I hope you all like it!
Chapter 27
The following week, everything went insane.
Anders and Rhianna spent their days – and sometimes even nights – trying to do their best to help not only their friends, but everyone they could in the city. They both rarely had time for each other and it frustrated Anders to no end. Even though they lived together, they were so busy they barely had time to mumble good night to one another as they tumbled into bed at the end of the day.
On the seventh day of madness, Anders was dozing off over breakfast when he was suddenly awakened by a knock on the front door.
He started and stood up immediately, swaying for a few seconds as he blinked around the dining area, clearly confused at his surroundings. Merrill walked in with Velanna trailing behind. Anders suppressed a groan, but gestured them to sit at the table anyway.
"Hello, Merrill. Velanna. What brings you two here on this delightfully pleasant morning?"
Merrill smiled as she sat down, but Velanna scowled at him – no big surprise there.
"Velanna wants to ask Hawke a favor," the dark-haired Dalish elf chattered as she grabbed a piece of bread and nibbled on it, her green eyes eyeing the ham and cheese as she pondered what else she wanted. She sighed and took a piece of cheese then cut herself a piece of ham, all her attention focused on the food for the moment.
"Really?" Anders sighed as he sat back down. "What a surprise."
Velanna's eyes glowed briefly, but she managed to control her anger. "It's important."
Anders let out a bark of a laugh. "Everyone seems to say that these days," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes and then fixing his gaze on the blond Dalish mage. "It's a wonder how Kirkwall ever made it this far as a city before Hawke got here from Lothering."
"If it wasn't important, I wouldn't even be here," Velanna all but snarled.
"I'm sure it is," Anders shot back as gracefully as he could, barely managing to control the need to shoot a lightning bolt at Velanna. "Unfortunately, Rhianna has only just fallen asleep because we just got back from helping Isabela with a problem she had. I don't even know how in blazes I'm awake as it is, except for the fact that I have to go to the clinic in case someone is, you know, dying. I won't wake her; she's exhausted and needs to sleep."
Velanna erupted into a blue, glowing light as her anger took over and Justice took control.
"You fool!" Justice's booming voice resonated throughout the room, and the whole ground floor, Anders was sure. "Do you realize what is at stake here?"
Anders stood up, turning briefly to reach for his staff, which was leaning against the wall behind him. He immediately adopted a defensive stance as he glared back at Justice-Velanna, not really caring that Justice was about ready to probably maim him for life – maybe even kill him. At the moment, Rhianna was the only thing that mattered to him.
"If I wake her to go with you," Anders said in an even voice, "she'll die at the first opportunity of danger. She's too exhausted to defend herself properly. What good is she to you if she's dead, Justice?"
The blue light went out immediately, and Velanna sighed as she sat down heavily with a frown. At that moment, Hawke cleared her throat from the arched entrance to the room.
"I'm sure I'll manage," she said with a yawn much to Anders's dismay. "What's the problem, Velanna?"
…
Anders shook his head as they stood at the entrance to one of the sewer tunnels. He couldn't believe they were here and stole another angry glance at Velanna, who was actually smiling.
They were in the sewers because they were collecting an outlandish ingredient for Velanna. Fortunately for them, Fenris and Varric had joined the party, so they were better equipped to face whatever lurked in the slimy tunnels.
Even though Anders had to periodically send out rejuvenating bursts at Rhianna and himself to keep them from falling asleep, they were doing pretty well. That didn't stop him from keeping a watchful eye on the love of his life, however.
The tunnels they were in had a vast array of assassins, Carta dwarves and mercenaries – the kind that vanished and reappeared behind you to backstab you to death, so it was important they kept together at all times.
They had so far found three Sela Petrae deposits and had just entered a different area, where they had fought a number of assassins and mercenaries. Anders unexpectedly turned to Velanna with a wooden smile on his face.
"So, where exactly did you find the 'formula' for this potion, Velanna? I'm extremely interested," Anders asked very clearly, his voice bouncing off the walls. Fenris smiled slightly at the question, stopping momentarily to 'adjust' the halter on his back, which held his sword in place. Anders had seen Fenris's smile – it looked like a smirk to him to be honest – and quite suddenly he felt the mad desire to burst out laughing.
Varric was staring at Velanna curiously, so Anders crossed his arms, facing Velanna with a grin that turned the blond Dalish mage's perpetual frown into a scowl. Rhianna and Merrill stopped chatting up ahead and turned to see what was holding the rest up, then walked back towards them.
"I told you," Velanna said through clenched teeth. "I read it in an old Tevinter tome."
Even Varric chuckled at Velanna's answer, and the Dalish mage bristled visibly at the dwarf who was now grinning up at her, shaking his head.
"It's curious that in all the time I was with Danarius, I never heard of such a potion," Fenris deadpanned.
"Drop it, you guys," Rhianna interrupted, before Justice made an appearance. "If Velanna wishes to separate from Justice and has found a way, we should help her."
"Why should we?" Anders turned to Rhianna with a frown, blurting out the question. "Risking our lives for a 'personal' problem like this? Really?"
"Hey, now, that's not fair," Varric protested in a quiet voice. "All of us have been asking Hawke to help out with personal problems so far…"
"Because she's my friend," Rhianna answered Anders through clenched teeth with a little more force than usual, her eyes flashing angrily. "All my friends are family. I thought you knew this?"
Before Anders could reply, a Carta assassin suddenly appeared from the shadows and sank his twin blades into Rhianna's back. Anders uttered a cry as he flung a lightning bolt at the culprit and almost simultaneously moved forward quickly to catch Rhianna in his arms. He began to heal her immediately and at exactly the same moment, the rest of the Carta dwarves sprang out of the dark shadows surrounding the group and attacked.
"If Rhianna dies, I'm going to kill you Velanna!"
…
When Rhianna came to, she blinked up at Anders, trying to remember why she was breathing in a foul stench that made her cough.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed with disgust. "Are we in the sewer tunnels?"
"You were attacked from behind, sweetheart," Anders whispered. "I managed to close your wounds and heal you, fortunately." He kissed her forehead lovingly and she smiled up at him, then started a few moments later.
"Now I remember!" Rhianna exclaimed as she struggled to sit up. "We're gathering Sela Petrae for Velanna, right?"
"I am sorry you were hurt, Hawke," Velanna's voice came from somewhere behind them. "But we found the last of what I needed in this room. We must travel to the Bone Pit to get the Drakestone."
"And she still asks for help, in spite of what has just happened," Fenris observed in a monotone.
Anders helped Rhianna stand and she swayed a little, so he kept his arms around her. Turning to Velanna, he faced her with a murderous look in his eyes.
"She's lost a lot of blood," he rasped at the Dalish mage angrily. "I don't think we'll be going to the Bone Pit today!"
Velanna tensed and her eyes momentarily flashed a bright, cerulean blue, but Anders was past caring. He held Rhianna closely and insisted they needed some sleep.
"We'll go tomorrow, Velanna. I promise," Rhianna smiled weakly up at her friend.
"Thank the Maker for that!" Anders exclaimed.
…
The following day when Rhianna awoke, Anders was pacing the room. She sat up in bed, smiling at him and he stopped pacing, sitting right next to her.
"Good morning, love," he murmured lovingly as he took her in his arms. "I'm glad to see some color in your cheeks again!"
"I feel really rested," Rhianna said as she rubbed her cheek against his tunic, breathing in the comforting smell of elfroot and lemon with a contented sigh.
"I'm not sure we should go to the Bone Pit today," Anders began, his arms tightening around her protectively. "You've lost a lot of blood."
"I'm sure Velanna won't like that," Rhianna laughed, lifting up her face to look up at him.
"I know these past few days have been very busy for us," Anders said, planting a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, "but I don't want you to exert yourself."
"I'm feeling fine, actually," Rhianna said earnestly, her eyes shining up at him. "Velanna and the rest will be coming over this afternoon. I can take another quick nap after breakfast, and rest a bit more after lunch. That way, I'll be feeling even better, don't you think?"
Anders shook his head, but reluctantly agreed after Rhianna kissed him. This woman had so much power over him!
As he held her in his arms, he trembled slightly – realizing suddenly that he would certainly die if anything happened to her.
"Hey, now, no melancholy!" she teased, sensing his sadness and concern. "Oh, look, it's Ser Whiskers!"
Anders turned to smile at his cat, which had jumped on the bed and was giving him a pointed stare, and reluctantly disentangled himself from Rhianna's embrace. "I guess he's hungry. I'll bring you some breakfast, love. Don't you dare get out of bed!"
…
Even though Anders didn't like it one bit, they set off to the Bone Pit later that afternoon. They had cleared the Bone Pit of dragons several days ago – an extremely unpleasant and dangerous task. The fight with the High Dragon had been particularly difficult and was still fresh in Anders's mind. He was afraid that other dragons had 'heard' how Rhianna and the rest of the group had killed the massive dragon and numerous other dragons and dragonlings as well.
"Why is everything burned to a crisp?" Merrill asked, suddenly curious of her surroundings.
"We killed a High Dragon here nearly a week ago," Anders replied with a frown. "I'm hoping there aren't any more dragons around. I'm sure they'd be delighted to kill the people that massacred so many of their kind in retaliation."
"I think we got the vast majority," Rhianna chuckled.
"I hope so!" Anders replied, his eyes on Velanna, who was leading them farther away from the clearing and to a side of the mountain they hadn't seen before. When they got closer, they realized there was an opening that led into a cave and Anders tensed immediately.
It was no use asking if they thought they would encounter more dragons once they entered the dark hole. Everyone was staring at it with a bit of trepidation and didn't immediately follow Velanna when she stepped inside.
Rhianna turned to Varric, Fenris and Anders with a smile before she walked into the hole. "A dark, dank cave!" she exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "What could possibly go wrong in there?"
"Famous last words," Anders muttered under his breath as he followed Rhianna inside, the rest close behind him.
…
Anders wasn't as surprised as he thought he would be when the first group of spiders ambushed them after entering the cave. He almost expected it.
If danger continues to follow us wherever we go, I might as well start walking into every single room of the estate with my staff pointed at the air before me!
Fenris and Varric tore into the spiders that were literally on fire, thanks to Velanna, while Hawke slashed at the fatally wounded, killing them instantly. Anders quickly sent out a vortex of freezing cold air on those that were dropping down to join the fray, giving the melee fighters enough time to shatter them to pieces.
The next room wasn't any better, but Merrill had already cast her root spell on the creatures, keeping them ensnared while Anders sent out a bolt of lightning that leapt from spider to spider. Velanna busied herself throwing powerful fireballs at the creatures. Fenris and Hawke had no trouble finishing them off. They continued to fight several spider ambushes, but came out victorious in each and every one – something that Anders felt hugely relieved about.
All the while, the hunt for the Drakestone was going very well. They now had four samples and Velanna was actually grinning – something Anders had NEVER seen her do before.
As soon as they stepped into a vast chamber, however, Anders felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The whole place was as silent as a tomb, and Anders hated tombs. There was suddenly a slight breeze coming from somewhere, which was ridiculous, since they were under the bloody ground. But what really got him worried was when Rhianna ordered everyone to stop, as she had spotted some traps on the ground and was now bending down to disarm them.
"Wait!" Anders called out, but he needn't have bothered. At that exact same moment, the familiar click that told them one of the traps had been disabled resonated throughout the room and a huge, monstrous spider dropped from somewhere in the tall ceiling above, directly in front of Rhianna.
"Bloody hell!" Anders roared. They had seen a monstrous spider before of course – in the Deep Roads and in one of the Sundermount Caves. But this one was even bigger, if that was possible. Fenris uttered his battle cry in Tevene, and Merrill had already encased the spider's huge legs in roots, but it was too strong and broke away almost effortlessly. Rhianna moved like a blur, quickly disarming the rest of the traps, and a lot of smaller spiders dropped from the ceiling to attack as well.
As Fenris whacked the huge creature with one of his mightiest blows ever, the spider actually took more than a few steps back and Anders unleashed a wave of icy cold wind on it, hoping against all hope that this would slow it down. Varric apparently had the same idea, and the volley of arrows he released from Bianca certainly slowed down the other smaller ones, but the monster just kept coming.
They combined their efforts all at once on the huge creature, ignoring all the other spiders for the moment, and that looked like it did the trick. The monster finally stood still, a shimmering sheen of ice momentarily enveloping it. Fenris was then able to slash at its underbelly and what poured out filled the chamber with a nauseating stench.
A cry came out of Anders's lips when he saw Rhianna jump nimbly on the spiders hairy back and sink her daggers into the spider's head, causing the creature to shake and emit an awful cry as it died. More spiders dropped from the ceiling and Anders had little time to think as he cast spell upon spell on the creatures while Velanna burned some that had gotten too near.
When they had finally finished the rest of the spiders off, Velanna suddenly found another Drakestone sample and called out cheerfully to everyone that she had all the samples she needed. Everyone glared at her, even Merrill, but she merely shrugged haughtily as she walked by.
"I swear, Hawke," Varric said in a low voice. "If she wasn't your friend I would have killed her by now!"
Fenris chuckled to this and nodded silently in agreement. Merrill stood silently by – lost in her thoughts as always.
"But this was fun!" Rhianna said in a happy voice. "I really enjoyed killing the monster! And look, there's a nest behind her. I'll go see what trinkets I can find!"
Anders frowned as he shook his head, briefly wondering if she had come down with a fever. Fenris had gone in after her, but Anders could not bring himself to wander into a small room made entirely out of spider webs. He had killed and maimed every single conceivable enemy they had encountered for her so far, and dealt more damage than he had ever thought possible, but not this.
There were still some things he just couldn't bring himself to do – even if it meant Fenris was alone with her at this very moment…
Fenris was alone with her!
With a sigh, Anders pushed himself forward with determination and walked into the 'spider room' after Hawke and Fenris, cursing to himself all the way.
…
Fenris and Varric said goodbye to Hawke, Anders, Merrill and Velanna and walked off to their homes, probably to bathe. Anders was both surprised and dismayed to see both Velanna and Merrill accompanying them to the Hawke Estate, but he didn't say a word. Merrill sank into one of the comfortable chairs in the 'reading room' with a book in her hands, but Velanna approached Hawke with a frown.
Something was clearly on her mind and Anders crossed his arms as he regarded the Dalish elf suspiciously, watching her every movement.
"Is there something else, Velanna?" Rhianna asked. "I'd really like to take a bath, you know."
Velanna gave Hawke a small smile. "It's too late for the favor I want to ask you. But I'll ask anyway."
"Of course," Anders interrupted, the annoyance in his voice evident. "Why wouldn't you? It's not like Rhianna will say 'no' to whatever you have to say."
Rhianna glanced at Anders, her eyes slightly widened as she silently begged him to be quiet. Anders caught that immediately, so he just shook his head and sighed.
"I need to get into the Chantry, without being seen. I need you to distract the Grand Cleric. Talk to her so that she doesn't see me. Can you do this tomorrow morning for me, Hawke?" Velanna asked in a very clear voice.
Anders caught Merrill looking up with a startled gaze, fixing her eyes on Velanna. He kept his eyes on the blond Dalish elf, however, his suspicion growing by the minute. What was going on here?
"I thought you hated the Chantry, Velanna. Why do you want to go in there? And what's your plan?" Rhianna asked, earning a frown from the mage.
"I can tell you what I'm planning, but not in front of him," Velanna hissed angrily, gesturing towards Anders.
"I've had it with all this shit!" Anders burst out angrily. "I know Justice never liked me much and you hate humans, but this is taking things too far! If you are getting Rhianna to do something she shouldn't, I'll kill you myself, Velanna!"
"You will, will you?" Velanna laughed, the cerulean blue now evident in her eyes. "I find myself skeptical."
"You'll find yourself much more than that, I assure you," Anders growled.
"If you two are going to insist on fighting, then I won't do anything to help you, Velanna!" Rhianna interrupted, putting herself in front of Anders protectively. "I need you to stop, please!"
The blue glow disappeared almost instantly and Velanna nodded slowly. "I'll come here tomorrow, Hawke. Thank you for all you've done for me."
With that, she turned to Merrill. "We're leaving."
"We are?" Merrill jumped up as Velanna walked by in silence, dropping the book on the chair. "I guess we are! Goodbye Hawke, Anders!" The dark-haired Dalish elf scurried after Velanna.
Anders watched them go with a worried frown, but Rhianna stood on her toes to kiss him and he forgot about Velanna, Merrill, and all the things that go bump in the night…including giant monstrous spiders.
…
Excerpt from Anders's journal:
So worried, I didn't sleep at all last night. Rhianna left with Velanna early this morning. This time she didn't bring Merrill with her, and I was taking another bath, so I didn't know they were gone until they had left. A few hours later, Rhianna came back and she was a bit nettled and looked concerned about something. I tried to talk to her about it, but she just shook her head and didn't say a word.
I think Velanna and Justice make one heck of a deadly combination and I don't like being in the dark. I wonder what it is that Rhianna did exactly to 'distract' the Grand Cleric. She's not a woman I particularly like, but she's not someone I hate either. I mean, the templars kind of fill my 'hate cup' rather nicely – no room for anyone else! Well, the Knight-Commander maybe! But she is a templar, so…
The only thing that worries me is how quiet Rhianna is. I tried to talk to her later during lunch, but she didn't want to talk to me about Velanna at all. And since she had to go to the Gallows to talk to Orsino and I had to go to the Clinic to see my patients, we never got around to talking at all.
All I know is that I'm getting the feeling of impending doom hovering over us and I don't like it! I don't like it at all! It feels like the whole atmosphere is tense – electrically charged in a way.
Something big and bad is coming!
I hope I'm wrong!
…